Birds of a Feather

It's 30 degrees out, and Brock Windsor is leaning over a piece of Swiss chard, explaining its origin. The farm where it's from, he said, is owned by a nice lady and her daughter.

"When food has a location, a name and a face behind it, all of a sudden, your food has a story," said Windsor, spokesman for the Island Chefs' Collaborative Market.

The Luxton Station farmers' market is going urban, re-opening Saturdays this year on Bryn Maur Road in downtown Langford.

Langford council gave its blessing last week to close off Bryn Maur to vehicle traffic for the market, sending organizers scrambling to notify farmers for its May 30th opening.

Keeping it local at the Luxton Market

It started with a blackberry and got out of control.

Highland’s resident Sarah Shasko made so much jam that the jars took over her home. Giving them away as presents only dented the supply so much and finally her husband Mike suggested perhaps she try selling a few.

“I never really thought of trying to sell my jams before,” she said. “It was actually a lot easier than I thought it was going to be.”

Interest in locally grown food fuels explosion of urban ‘pocket markets’

When a group of Vic West residents set up a local food market in the summer of 2005, they had no idea it would blossom throughout the capital region.